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By Rossiter W. Raymond

The substance known as carbonite, or natural coke, has been several times the subject of comment before the Institute. The most important contribution hitherto made to the discussion is that of Dr. Henry Wurtz, of Hoboken,* who states, upon the strength of a chemical analysis, that carbonite is not a coke, but contains 14.08 per cent. of volatile combustible matter. In 1882 a mine was opened upon a carbonite seam, near Midlothian, Chesterfield County, Va., by Messrs. Jewett & Brother, of that place. The seam, which dips westerly at an angle of about 30 degrees, was struck at the depth of 137 feet with a vertical shaft, and followed on the dip 325 feet, at which depth gangways were opened north and sooth. For these statements (having made no personal examination of the locality), I am indebted to Mr. Albert Blair, of Richmond, and for the following section, to Mr. John Bladon, engineer at the mine. The section was taken in the face of the gangway, February 17th, 1883. It shows an aggregate thickness of 15 feet of "coke," of which about 5 feet were extracted by the system employed last winter. It is reported that under the "coke" seam there is a thick seam of highly bituminous coal, which has been extensively worked on a neighboring property, a little south of the Jewett colliery, the coal being sold for gas-waking. The carbonite is used for domestic purposes, and is said to burn

Jan 1, 1883

By A. Q. Tool

THE necessity of accurate temperature measurements in the glass-making industries is today being much more widely appreciated than in the past. The introduction of the modern simplified and perfected pyrometric methods in connection with exact regulation of furnace temperatures has caused a marked improvement in the glass product with a quickened rate of production. An example of the processes in which much improvement has been and still can be made is that of annealing or heat-treating the glass. This is one of the most delicate processes in glass manufacture and one that requires a most careful furnace control. The heat treatment is undertaken to decrease the possibility of breakage and, in glass for fine optical instruments, to prevent serious warping of accurately ground and polished surfaces and to make the glass more uniform throughout to the passage of light waves. These objects are accomplished by removing all the harmful stresses that exist in a piece of glass when it has been cooled too quickly or unevenly. Such stresses exist, for example, after it has been pressed, cast, or otherwise worked. Thus the process of annealing consists of heating the glass evenly to the temperature at which it softens just enough to relieve these stresses in a reasonable time and then cooling slowly and uniformly until the glass hardens again. Accordingly, the things that must be investigated and determined in order to anneal glass without loss of time are, the annealing temperature, the time that the glass should be held at this temperature while the stresses relax, and the quickest cooling procedure that will give satisfactory results. After these characteristics of the glass are known the problem is one of pyrometry and temperature control entirely. In cases when it is known that a glass article will be required to withstand some definite type of heat or mechanical shock it is often possible, by a proper heat treatment, to produce such a distribution of the stresses in the glass that it will be enabled to resist these shocks more effectively.

Jan 9, 1919

By F. Windolph

There are no hard and fast rules for building tailing dams, and each case has to be analyzed individually because of special conditions encountered at each location. Certain criteria are used for building dams at Climax, Colo., where they must be placed in rather steep mountain valleys on foundations that are practically impermeable. The tailing is relatively coarse, and a coarse fraction stays near the berm where it is deposited, while most of the fines flow with the water to the pool. Thirty years experience has led to certain design for toe dams, decanter lines and towers and tailing dams. A new tailing disposal area, started at Climax in 1958, will ultimately have a height of 495 ft and impound about 300 million tons. The following applies to the construction of this new tailing area.

Jan 11, 1961

By J. N. Hobstetter, J. J. Becker

Deformed copper single crystals exhibited, upon annealing, a recrystallized twinned grain with a twin plane parallel to an active deformation plane, rotated approximately 22" about its pole, or else did not recrystallize at all. If extraneous deformation was not carefully removed, no simple orientation relationship was found. RECRYSTALLIZATION textures have been a subject of practical interest for many years, but any real understanding of their formation will have to start with a study of the recrystallization of carefully deformed single crystals. Some efforts have been made in this direction,'-' but much more experimental information is needed before a satisfactory picture of the crystallography of recrystallization can be formed. This paper reports a few results in copper single crystals. The crystals studied in this investigation were grown by the Bridgman method," and their orientations determined by the back-reflection Laue technique." Some specimens were simply deformed in compression, others were sheared, and still others tested in a rotating-grip device, in attempts to remove end constraints. The details of their deformation behavior are described elsewhere.' The deformed specimens were annealed and the orientations of the recrystallized grains were determined optically, as described by Barrett and Levenson.8 Compressed Specimens Specimen 17-A, whose orientation is given in Fig. 1, was compressed to a total of 19 pct. As observed before,' increasing deformation took place by increasing density of slip lines in initially formed clusters, with little if any formation of new slip clusters in unslipped areas. The specimen was then etched in nitric acid until its length had been reduced from 0.766 to 0.735 in. It was annealed at 1000°C, in increments of a few minutes. After 63 min, two small grains had appeared in the center, Fig. 2. They were found to be twinned with respect to each other (AB, Fig. 4). After 30 min more, the specimen was completely recrystallized. A typical view of it is given in Fig. 3. A summary of all orientations found is given in Fig. 4, in which the prominent grain G is in (001) standard projection, and the poles of the active slip planes after deformation are indicated by SP (primary slip plane), CrSP (cross-slip plane), and CnSP (conjugate slip plane). All the orientations found were related through seven orders of twinning. A "family tree" of these twins is given in Fig. 5. Furthermore, the BG twin composition plane lies close to the cross-slip plane

Jan 1, 1954

By James R. Evans

Forecasting demand is an art as well as a science, and much personal judgment is required. National forecasts made for sand and gravel, crushed stone, and/or aggregate may be misleading or unhelpful locally. This is because of significant variation in demand within different geographic and/or political areas in the US, and/or the use of an inadequate data base and forecasting methodology. The best forecasts may be made for local or regional market areas, irrespective of geographic or political boundaries, provided a proper data base is available.1 The Bureau of Mines compiles detailed statistics on commodities sold or used in the construction industries and, therefore, is in an advantageous position to make national aggregate demand forecasts. Definitions of some terms used in this presentation are necessary before proceeding.

Jan 1, 1980

By G. S. Hume

During the war years the drilling activity in Canada has been steadily increasing and still further increase is expected in 1945. The production of oil, which in the past has come largely from the Turner Valley field in Alberta, shows a decline since 1942, the peak year. New discoveries made in 1944, however, give promise of replacing the decrease from Turner Valley where the crude-oil production in 1944 was nearly 1,800,000 bbl. less than in 1942, but with an increase of 145,000 bbl. in natural gasoline, a product of great value to the war effort. A very considerable part of the decline in Alberta has been offset by new production of more than a million barrels in 1944 from the Norman Wells field, in the Mackenzie River area of the Northwest Territories. It should not be forgotten, however, that this is largely due to the Canol development, a war project, the future of which is dependent on many factors not connected with an ordinary commercial operation. The year 1944 has been the best in new discoveries in Alberta for all time. The discovery of a new deep field at Jumping-pound, 20 miles west of Calgary, with the hopc of a type of product similar to that of Turner Valley is the culmination of many years of effort to interpret the subsurface structures in relation to the complicated surface foothills faulting and folding. In this case the subsurface structure on the Paleozoic limestone was inferred from geological investigations but precisely defined by seismograph. In addition to Jumpingpound the discovery of oil of 34.5 gravity at a depth of less than 5000 ft, in the Devonian of the Plains at Princess, 125 miles east of Calgary, is of great significance since this is the first substantial production from the Devonian in Alberta, although previously some oil had been obtained at two places from the Devonian in the foothills. The effect of this discovery is already apparent in the number of wells now drilling to the Devonian in the southern Plains. In southern Alberta a new producing area has been found in a Lower Cretaceous sand at Barnwell, a few miles west of Taber. Also, at Conrad, 20 miles southeast of Taber, an important new discovery has been made at a depth of about 3000 ft. in a sand in Jurassic shales, in a strali-graphic trap on the northeast flank of the Sweetgrass arch. In northeast Central Alberta an important extension has been found in the Lloydminster area, where only a few wells have so far been drilled. A new well 3 1/2 miles south of the previous producers found a coarser sand at the productive horizon and as a result will have an increased daily yield. At Blackfoot, 9 miles west of Lloydrninster, a new producing area in the Lower Cretaceous may have been discovered at a depth of 2004 ft. At the end of 1944 the well was being tested. Forty-four unsuccessful wildcat wells were drilled in Alberta in 1944. The decline of Turner Valley, the major producing field, was anticipated at the beginning of the war and in an effort to offset this and encourage new development the Dominion Government put into force tax concessions and other measures that,

Jan 1, 1945

By R. W. Jenkins, O. J. Neslage

The need for mechanized drilling to decrease mining costs has resulted in the development of the jumbo from column-and-bar drill by carriages to hydraulically controlled jib jumbos. Resultant savings from use of improved jumbos have been high enough usually to retire the machinery investment within a year. The jib jumbo unit has been and applied successfully to development and preparation programs and flat-bedded stopes, and an even wider field is forecast for its use.

Jan 5, 1950

By Robert W. Hunt

In 1888 the writer had the honor of submitting to the Institute a paper on " Steel Rails and Specifications for their Manufacture."* In his judgment the specifications were sufficient for "that day and generation." In that paper I said: '' The first duty falls upon the railroad engineer in designing his section. If that is bad, the steel-maker will be heavily handicapped in trying to furnish a satisfactory rail. I suppose it is hopeless to expect the adoption of standard sections."

Jan 1, 1896

By R. V. Ramani, R. M. Mishra, Y. J. Wang

The validity of the concept of mine resistance in ventilation systems is examined. Mine resistance is the proportionality constant relating the head generated by a fan and the quantity flowing through it when the fan is connected to a mine circuit. It is the total effect of all branches in the mine ventilation circuit. Its importance lies in the fact that for new mine projections, and in the extensions of existing mines, ventilation calculations are usually based upon adjustments of the mine resistance. In ventilation circuits with regulation, and/or with multi-fans, simple adjustments of the mine resistance curve do not lead to correct solution. A ventilation system consists of several interconnected subsystems where one subsystem behavior affects that of the others, and the total system. Through a series of simple but realistic examples, the authors demonstrate the importance of the systems concept in mine ventilation, and its practical application to coal mine ventilation planning. Starting from an initial system with no leakage and one fan, more complex ventilation networks with several leakages, sections and fans, are analyzed to show that ventilation system design on the basis of total systems approach is the correct procedure.

Jan 1, 1979

By Maurice B. Dusseault, Edo Nyland

Numerous consistent seismic signals are being generated in a pilot fireflood in a 750 m deep high permeability unconsolidated channel sand in Eastern Alberta. The pilot has a central air injection well, eight production wells on artificial lift, and two internally placed observation wells. Surface seismometers and a 12-hydrophone downhole string were deployed to detect seismics signals. Date were collected for 22 hours employing signal-triggered event detectors recording on cassette tapes. Monitoring during twelve hours of steady air injection at 625m3/s yielded a clear event frequency of about 50 events/h. The events were mostly clear compressional wave arrivals originating in the vicinity of the firefront. Stopping air injection caused a gradual drop in event frequency, and the rate was reestablished when air injection was reinitiated. Spectral frequency analysis and knowledge of material properties indicate that the events are shears of a stick-slip nature associated with the strain-weakening behavior of the over-compacted reservoir sands. The event amplitude indicates small-scale shearing, and different amplitudes suggest that planes re-shear with lower energy release levels. The triggering mechanism for shear rupture is high shear stress created by thermal expansion in the area of highest ther- mal gradient. Other enhanced recovery techniques may also produce useful signals for process control. In particular, steam flooding, hydraulic fracturing, and high-pressure injection operations likely generate mappable microseismic events which can be applied directly to production/ injection strategy.

Jan 1, 1982

By F. W. Jessen, James N. Howell

INTRODUCTION The determination of cloud points has to date been limited to rather transparent oils, visual observation of the formation of a solid phase being the criterion for the standard ASTM D 97-47 method. The need for a quiclc and simple method for determining cloud points under dynamic conditions for opaque crude oils became necessary in a study of fundamental aspects of paraffin deposition from crude oils. PREVIOUS WORK The determination of cloud points in opaque oils by viscosity temperature curves is fairly new, Young' described a method employing the capillary tube principle. No information exists relative to the determination of cloud points of crude or refined oils under dynamic conditions. Shock' noticed that deposition of paraffin from crude oils took place at temperatures at or below the temperature at which a sharp inflection point occurred in the viscosity-temperature curve. This observation indicates a possible correlation between this temperature and the cloud point of the crude oil. Reistle and Vietti1 have reported that when crude oils containing small amounts of asphaltic materials were heated to temperatures sufficiently high to solubilize these materials and immediately cooled the pour point of the crude oil was lowered as much as 70°F. Sachanen\ asribes this effect to the action of colloidal asphaltenes in preventing the formation of the crystalline structure necessary to maintain the oil in a rigid state. At high temperatures, asphaltenes are peptized, and the paraffin crystals formed at these temperatures adsorb the colloidal asphaltenes on their surface thereby hindering further growth of the crystals. Reistle" found, however, that such heating and cooling of crude oils had no effect upon the cloud points. This latter work dealt with a crude oil of fixed composition, and the question immediately arises as to the effect of varying the concentration of asphaltic materials on the cloud point. APPARATUS AND PROCEDURE All viscosity measurements were made with a Bendix Ultra-Viscoson. The Bendix Ultra-Viscoson, which consists of a vibrating probe and an electronic computer. measures viscosity by exciting a thin alloy steel blade on the end of a probe by short electrical pulses in damped oscillation at 28 kilocycles. The blade vibrates longitudinally with an amplilude of less than 55 micron or 20 millionths of an inch. Energy to protlucc this excitation is generated in he computer and transferred to the probe through the connecting cable. The oscillating blade is magnetostric-tive, i.e., it is capable of transforming electrical energy to mechanical energy in the ultrasonic range. Ultrasonic waves are produced in the material surrounding the blade by the oscillating motion of the blade causing layers of the material to slip back and forth over one another at a known frequency. The electronic computer calculates the energy required to produce the sliding motion which is in turn proportional to the viscosity of the material. Actual values of viscosity times density (centi-poise X grams/cc) are indicated on the computer and a continuous D-C signal is provided which is fed into a type 153 Electronic Recorder (manufactured by Brown Instruments Div. of Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Co.) The liquid sample container was fabricated from a Lucite cylinder and jacketed by a Luicite water bath. Early experiments using glass and steel sample containers were not satisfactory. since the Ultra-Viscoson was apparently affected by the alterzltion of the magnetic fields surrounding the probe by stresses set LIP in the glass and steel as it cooled. The procedure for determining viscosity-temperature curves was relatively simple. The temperature ot the sample was raised sufficiently high to solubilize all paraffin and asphalts present. After heating, the oil sample was immediately transferred

Jan 1, 1957

By C. H. Jr. Herty

THE elimination of metalloids in the open-hearth process depends on oxidation of the metal by diffusion of FeO from the slag (or absorption of FeO by the metal), with subsequent reaction between dissolved iron oxide and the metalloids carbon, manganese, phosphorus, and silicon. During an investigation on deoxidation with silicon, data on rate of oxidation of the metal were obtained, and these combined with certain other information, are presented here in an attempt to show the fundamental principles governing the diffusion of FeO from slag to metal. Inasmuch as the aim of the investigation was not a study of diffusion, certain data are lacking and it has been necessary to make assumptions on metal viscosity and effect of temperature on diffusion. These factors are known to exert a considerable effect on diffusional processes. Overoxidation, or supersaturation of the metal with iron oxide, is not taken up in this paper. Overoxidation has little effect on diffusion except under a few special conditions, and the discussion has therefore been limited to diffusional processes. Though the results given in this paper should be regarded as preliminary, certain of the conclusions drawn are definitely applicable to any steelmaking process.

Jan 1, 1929

By Robert Warner

WHEN a new mine is opened, and often when an operating mine must adapt itself to physical or economic changes, a mining system must be selected in complete detail. In the past the plan chosen was usually the product of the local staff alone, however limited the training and experi-ence of that staff might be, which often resulted in the introduction of methods that were familiar to the staff, but not so well suited to the con-ditions as others unknown to the local men. A new management, noting the difficulties with the existing layout, might make modifications or complete changes, so that many mines in their history have seen a whole series of mining systems, each somewhat laboriously grafted on to its predecessor. This should not be interpreted as a condemnation of the older staffs for sticking to the tried systems, such as open square-sets in the early days at the Homestake, because they knew it would work after a fashion, nor does the statement apply to the technically trained, and usually broadly experienced staffs of most present-day properties. The older miners did not have the variety of tools and methods, nor the present freedom of transfer of information as to what the other man is doing, and so did the best they could under the circumstances. Finally, the higher grade of the ores made the choice less vital. The ever-increasing need to mine low-grade orebodies, with a fixed or even lower price for the metal produced, has caused an increasing need for low-cost mining. In most new mines this has simplified the problem of selection by eliminating from consideration all of the high-cost systems, but it has also complicated the choice by the necessity for refinement in detail and a close adjustment of the plan selected to all the conditions at the property. In these low-cost problems any textbook division of mining systems as applied to "beds, veins or masses" avails little as a guide. It should be realized at the outset that to' be successful under modern competitive conditions a system of mining must be worked out with elaborate detail, with careful time scheduling and control of the various elemental operations, and that after it is introduced it must be run with a large amount of technical direction.

Jan 1, 1933

LINN BRADLEY, H.' D. EGBERT and W. W. STRONG (communication to the Secretary*).--In the discussion of the paper, a request was made for a further explanation of the curves given on Chart I. In preparing the curves given on this chart, a typical blast-furnace top gas having the following composition by weight was assumed: Per Cent. C02 21.00 CO 24.00 Hz 0.25 CH4 0:25 N2 54.50 For any given top-gas temperature, Curves A, B, C, D, and E indicate in British thermal units the sensible heat lost in cooling the top gas to 60° F. by wet-cleaning methods. Top-gas temperatures are plotted as abscissae, sensible heats above 60° F. in British thermal units are plotted as ordinates, and separate curves are drawn for top gases carrying various amounts of moisture. For any given stove exit-gas temperature, curves A1,-B1, C1, D1, and E1, indicate in British thermal units the sensible heat carried out of the stoves by the moisture which is left in the top gas when it is dry-cleaned and enters the stoves hot. This moisture is removed when the gases are wet-cleaned and the sensible heat which it carries out of the stoves is therefore saved. As before, separate curves are drawn for top gases carrying various amounts of moisture. The curves in Fig. 1, therefore, indicate graphically how much more sensible heat is conserved by cleaning the top gases by the dry-hot method than is conserved by cleaning the top. gases by a cold-wet method and thus removing the greater part of the moisture carried by them. They also show of how little moment it is from a heat conservation standpoint whether or not the moisture carried by the top gases is removed before they enter the stoves. That wet cleaning secures the removal of this moisture and is thus to be recommended from a heat conservation standpoint is an argument often advanced by advocates of wet cleaning. The curves of Fig. 1 show how fallacious such an argument is.

Jan 6, 1917

By G. Willard Quick

FAILURES in railroad rails have been of vital concern to engineers; railroad executives, rail manufacturers and the general public for years. Failures from transverse fissures originating from internal nuclei have received particular attention in the past 20 years. Dr. J. E. Howard first reported this type of failure in 1911, as being responsible for a wreck-on the Lehigh Valley R. R. in which several lives were lost. Since then many transverse fissures have been found. In 1919, Waring and Hofammann1 etched longitudinal sections of rails in hot acid and found cracks extending both longitudinally and transversely in certain used rails as well as in some new rails.. Since then it has been thought by many that these "shatter" cracks are the nuclei from which transverse fissures subsequently develop in service. Methods for reducing the rate of cooling rails on the hot. bed have been devised to decrease the temperature gradient and consequently the stress gradient in the rails. A study of the tensile properties of rails at elevated temperatures was made by Freeman and Quick,2 who investigated the properties at temperatures through which rails pass on the cooling bed after leaving the hot saw. In their investigation a special study was made of the ductility of the steels in the temperature range 400° to 700° C. In this temperature range it was found that certain rail and other steels showed a marked decrease in elongation and reduction of area. The phenomenon was called "secondary brittleness" and the temperature range the "secondary brittle range." A tentative explanation was presented that internal failure such as "shatter cracks" and "hair cracks" in rails are the result of thermal stresses developed in the steel structure while cooling through the secondary brittle range. The investigation showed that the magnitude of the phenomenon varies for different heats, but that it did not differ for specimens from different ingots or for different rails in a particular ingot. It was also shown that annealing rail steel at a temperature either above or below the critical

Jan 1, 1932

By A. Bar-Or, G. Hirsch, P. Wynblatt

The rates of nucleation and growth at various temperatures in U-0.45, 1.1, and 1.35 at. pet Cr alloys were determined, providing a qliantitative proo-f that the transformation under study is controlled by nucleation and diffusional growth. The linear relationship, log NV US 1/T2, suggests that the nucleation of the alloys is probably controlled by the classical law of nuclei formation. The established linear relationship, log G us 1/T, in the three alloys suggests that growth in each alloy is controlled by bidimensional nuclei formation. It was established that both the rate of growth and the rale of nucleation are retarded by chromium. Using classical formulae, sApN and sApG (the ß/a apparent interphase energies) were calculated from the nucleation and growth results, respectively. It was found that their values are of the same order of magnitude. However, why sApN is unaffected by the addition of chromium, while sApG increases with it, needs further clarification. In the last few years, an appreciable amount of research has been conducted into the mechanism of the ß —a transformation in uranium and uranium alloys. Recently, Burke1 reviewed the published work concerned with this transformation. He concluded that in dilute uranium alloys it is firmly established that, at high temperatures in the a range, ß decomposes by a diffusional process. However, he based his conclusion either on experiments dealing with the over-all transformation,2 or on qualitative results.3 It was felt that a better insight into the mechanism of transformation could be gained from the quantitative measurements of growth and nucleation rates, which we aimed to carry out in the present work. In a previous work,4 we have shown that a rim of a grains is formed during isothermal transformation at the high a range. The thickening of this rim with time was used for measuring the rate of growth in U-0.45 at. pet Cr.5 This method was also used in the present work for two more alloys. For meas- uring the rate of nucleation, a method of quenching and macroetching was developed to allow differentiation between a grains formed during isothermal transformation at the upper a range and those formed after quenching, Fig. 1. EXPERIMENTAL WORK AND RESULTS The Rate of Nucleation. The measurement of the rate of nucleation was effected by counting the num-

Jan 1, 1965

[United States PAGE Alabama 242 Alaska 242 Arizona 1 242 Arkansas 243 California 243 Colorado 246 Connecticut 248 Delaware 248 District of Columbia 248 Florida 248 Georgia 249 Idaho 249 Illinois 249 Indiana 250 Iowa 250] [ ]

Jan 1, 1925

By William P. Blake

In directing attention to the newly-opened zinc-ore region in Southwestern New Mexico, I adopt a suggestion made at the Engi neering Congress last summer in Chicago by Prof. Le Neve Foster, who commended the indication of the geographical position of a district under description by means of an outline-map. Such a map is the more important in this instance, inasmuch as the region to be described is remote and little known even in the United States. Until within a few years it has been infested by the savage Apaches, has not been often visited by mining engineers, and could not be

Jan 1, 1895

This symposium is based on material presented at the AIME Annual Meeting in New York, February 1958. Co-Chairmen of the panel discussion were Truman H. Kuhn, Colorado School of Mines, and J. E. Monroe, Freeport Sulphur Co. Panel members are listed above. In opening the meeting Chairman Monroe pointed out that both industry and education have their special problems and that the purpose of this and similar discussion groups is to bring together members from both industry and education in order to help solve their problems.

Jan 6, 1958

By Ihor A. Kunasz

Introduction Lithium minerals occur predominantly in pegmatites which contain mineral assemblages derived from the crystallization of postmagmatic fluids or from the metasomatic action by residual pegmatitic fluids. They have been the traditional sources of raw materials for ceramic and chemical industries. With the discovery of Searles Lake, brines became new sources of lithium. Indeed, the 1960s may well be referred to as the "brine decade" because several brine bodies of significant economic importance were discovered. In the United States, the brines of Clayton Valley, Nevada, are presently exploited by Foote Mineral Co. The brines of the Great Salt Lake of Utah, the Smackover formation, and the Imperial Valley geothermal field, have been defined as important resources of lithium. In South America, new occurrences have been identified in Bolivia and Argentina. At the Salar de Atacama, Chile, new production capacity is scheduled for 1984. Following the termination of the AEC purchase program in 1959, several companies such as Maywood Chemical Co., American Lithium Chemicals, and Quebec Lithium Corp. were forced to close their operations. Nevertheless, with the development of new applications in glass ceramics, air conditioning systems, synthetic rubber, and metallurgy (aluminum potlines), the lithium industry grew steadily, and with the potential application of lithium metal in batteries and nuclear reactors, a healthy growth can be foreseen. New products and new applications are likely to stimulate exploration for expanded, reserves as well as the search for new sources from which lithium could be extracted economically. Geochemistry of Lithium Lithium is the third element in the periodic table. It is the lightest of all the metals, having an atomic weight of 6.938, an ionic radius of 0.68Å and a charge of +1. The geochemistry of lithium has been extensively studied and has been summarized by Rankama and Sahama (1950), Goldschmidt (1937), and Hortsman (1957). The distribution of lithium in igneous rocks is controlled by its size and its charge, and by the (MgO+FeO) / Li2O ratio. In the early stages of crystallization of a magma, that ratio is very large. Consequently, both magnesium and iron are removed by ferromagnesian minerals in preference to lithium which is then concentrated in the residual magma. This results in an enrichment of lithium in silicic rocks and pegmatites (Strock, 1936). Pegmatites are coarse-grained igneous rocks formed by the crystallization of postmagmatic fluids. Minerals within pegmatites may also form by metasomatism (Jahns, 1955). Genetically, the pegmatites are associated with neighboring intrusives. Mineralogically, granitic pegmatites contain feldspar, quartz, and mica as the main constituents and a variety of exotic elements such as lithium, beryllium, tantalum, tin, and cesium, which may or may not occur in economically significant concentrations. Detailed studies by numerous investigators (Cameron et al., 1949, 1954; Hanley et al., 1950; Jahns, 1953, 1955; Page et al., 1953) indicate that pegmatites often exhibit an internal zonal arrangement, with each zone containing a specific suite of minerals. The lithium minerals are usually found in the intermediate zones, and although as many as 13 zones have been recognized by Cameron, et al. (1949), a complete zonal arrangement is rarely found. Zoning of pegmatite bodies has also been observed on a regional basis. The regionally zoned pegmatite sequences exhibit mineral assemblages and complexity according to their re-

Jan 1, 1983